The Pellucid Perspective - July 2015 - (Page 5)

Golf litiGation Golf course threatened by latest in series of reverse discrimination complaints By Jim Dunlap W hen Steve Hart, owner and managing partner of the family-owned River View Golf Course in Santa Ana, Calif., offered a special Ladies Clinic on Sunday afternoons in April of this year, he did so hoping to attract more female players to the 18-hole public course his family and one other had owned since 1988. The offer was well received - even Hart's wife signed up, and it looked as if the clinic would be another building block in a steadily increasing development of a female customer base at the course. Then came the email from attorney Sage Sepahi of the San Diego-based Sepahi Law Group (can a law firm with an attorney staff of, apparently, one be a group?), alleging that his client had attempted to attend the Ladies Clinic and been told it was for ladies only. What was worse, although not surprising to anyone who recalled an article in this publication in January 2014, was that the complainant was none other than a gentleman named Steve Frye, who has apparently diligently combed the Internet and other media for years, seeking out promotional offers, programs or discounts that, he claims, discriminate against males. While Frye himself does not discriminate in the types of businesses or companies he sues, River View is not the first golf course to find itself in Frye's crosshairs. The 2014 article in this publication, which can be found here, noted suits by Frye against Eagle Vines in Napa (settled out of court) and a failed attempt to out-Donald the Donald when Frye attended a Breast Cancer Awareness charity outing at Trump National Los Angeles, paid the full price rather than the discounted price for women, and was apparently on the phone to his attorney within minutes of putting out on his 18th hole, credit card receipt for his entry fee in hand. The court ruled that the event was of such significant public benefit that the few extra bucks Mr. Frye paid to participate paled in significance and did not constitute discrimination under California's landmark Unruh Civil Rights Act. After seeing the filing by Frye against River View in the Orange County court system, Attorney Matthew Brown of the intriguingly named Payne & Fears LLP contacted Hart with an offer of legal assistance, noting that he and his firm had successfully defended suits by Frye against golf course clients on three previous occasions. In River View's case, Hart said that Frye had sent an email to the club pro who was hosting the event, asking if he could attend the clinic. The unsuspecting pro wrote back that unfortunately, the Sunday event was for ladies only, but told Frye that the course offers similar clinics which are open to men. When Frye filed his suit, he alleged that he had gone to River View on a Sunday afternoon but been told that he was not eligible to attend the Ladies Clinic. Hart said that neither he, his wife who attended the clinic nor any other staff member could recall Frye www.PellucidCorp.com or any other man asking to join the clinic. And so the battle is joined. "I really don't know what to do about this," Hart said. "I can turn it over to my insurance company (to settle), and my premium will probably go up $8-10,000, I can have my attorney send a letter, I can hire an attorney and go to court, or I can go to court and plead it myself, although I'd be a non-lawyer up against a lawyer. I guess after the fact, I should have put [the clinic] open to all people regardless of gender, but I was just trying to interest more women in golf. It will probably cost me $5-10,000 that frankly I was really hoping to be able to put into raises for my staff, because they deserve it." Under the Unruh Act, the penalty for a finding of genderbased discrimination such as Frye alleges at River View is a minimum of $4,000 per violation, and the defendant is frequently charged with paying the plaintiff 's legal fees as well. The broadly written act has opened the door for Frye, his fellow members of the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men and other plaintiffs to sue companies of all types throughout California whenever they discover an event, promotion or discount that excludes males, regardless of how well-intended it may be. The increasing number of these suits by Frye and others is reminiscent of the rash of suits that followed passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, when legitimate violations were nearly swamped in the rush of nuisance suits filed by plaintiffs seeking to either wring a settlement out of businesses or win an award in court. The number of such suits mushroomed to the point that Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation in 2012 that was designed to curb the abuse of the system. While gender discrimination statutes are different in many states and circumstances, golf course owners would be well advised to check with their attorney before labeling an event as exclusively for ladies or men. For instance, California is joined by Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in having specifically banned "Ladies Night" promotions which feature restricted access, promotions or discounts limited to women in public venues. Although attorney Brown and his clients have triumphed in court over Frye and Sepahi on several occasions, Brown cautions that golf courses should be wary of offering events or promotions which are or appear to be limited to women only. "To err on the side of caution, courses should probably not hold gender-discriminatory events, or if they do, they should not exclude males on the basis of gender if they express interest in participating," Brown said. "Unfortunately, golf has a long history of discriminating against women with things like men-only clubs or events restricted to men, so courses have to be particularly sensitive to that." n The Pellucid PersPecTive 5 https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pellucid/perspective_201401/index.php?startid=8 http://www.PellucidcorP.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - July 2015

TOC
2015 rounds up but revenue trailing
Golf course threatened by latest in series of reverse discrimination complaints
NCGOA’s no-go decision on tee time sales wise, but more controls needed
Golf gets a seat at the multi-billion dollar gift card table
Millennials seek answers to what golf offers to them
June golf weather impact: A second core month of “neutral”
Potential for Nirvana, but grungy performance slowing Seattle operators
Trumped?

The Pellucid Perspective - July 2015